By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Superman & Lois returned to The CW for its second season on Tuesday, introducing a new enemy, a new friend (with benefits) and an otherworldly mystery that will continue to unfold in the coming weeks. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Much of the drama in this first hour came from Lois’ inability to wrap her brain around the Natalie situation, constantly ping-ponging between feeling like she should be drawn to her daughter-from-another-earth and wondering why she isn’t.
“It’s the weirdest relationship you can imagine, such a bizarre situation,” showrunner Todd Helbing tells TVLine. “They’re both emotionally strong women, so it was interesting for us writers to explore what the reality of this would be. How would you respond? You’d like to say that it’s like Lois getting the daughter she lost, but she never really had a daughter. It’s not the same. And for Natalie, that’s not her mom. We just wanted to get into what that would really feel like for both of them.”
The whole ordeal forced Lois to reflect on her relationship with her own mother, whom she hasn’t forgiven for abandoning the Lane family all those years ago. But now, with Natalie around and her feeling nothing, Lois began to wonder if she isn’t more like her mother than she thought. Clark assured his wife that she’s nothing like that, but it sounds like we may get to be the judges of that ourselves. Helbing confirms that we’ll “probably meet [Lois’ mom] at some point in the future,” though he clarifies, “I don’t know about this season. Possibly.”
“You learn a lot about the Lane family this season,” Helbing adds. “You learn about [Lois and Lucy’s] childhood, and you learn why Sam, Lois and Lucy are the way they are. When Lois talks to Clark about her mom leaving, that’s a foundational shift. It explains everyone’s attitude, and why Lucy wasn’t talked about in Season 1 or why Lane has never talked about his wife. [Her departure was] a pivotal moment in all three of their lives, when they all started to go down different paths. You’ll learn about what that did to Lucy’s psyche, and the road it took her down.” (If you haven’t already, click here for our exclusive first look at Jenna Dewan’s return as Lucy!)
Meanwhile, Superman found himself at odds with Lt. Mitch Anderson (played by Tyler Hoechlin’s Teen Wolf pal Ian Bohen) over where his super-powered allegiance lies. For example, the smarmy Army man wasn’t thrilled that Clark [A] saved a nuclear North Korean submarine and [B] returned it to its native soil, no questions asked. When Superman made it clear that he’s a servant of the world, not just of the United States, Anderson asserted that “America can have more than one Superman.”
And that wasn’t just talk. The episode introduced us to a pair of super-powered recruits (rocking suits rudely emblazoned with the House of El’s iconic symbol!) who assisted with the military’s rescue efforts after a mine explosion triggered an earthquake.
Speaking of that earthquake, the final moments of the episode took us back down into the mines, where we caught a glimpse of what was really responsible for those tremors. But all Helbing will say of that giant hand is this: “I’m assuming a lot of people will know what that is. In Episode 2, you’ll see a little bit more. And in Episode 3, you’ll find out exactly what it is.” (Doomsday, perhaps?)
Also worth discussing…
* Lois walked in on Jonathan and his girlfriend Candice getting down to business, prompting Clark to deliver what could have been a very awkward sex talk. Kudos to Clark for managing to avoid being too cringey, instead just laying it all out there like a mature adult. That said, you may be wondering why Jonathan is suddenly dating a girl named Candice. When last we saw him, Jonathan was cozying up to Tegan, whose father was imprisoned in Central City. Spoiler alert: You can kiss that potential storyline goodbye. “You know how teenagers are,” Helbing says. “You date someone for a month and then it’s over. In those three months, he and Tegan broke up and he started dating Candice.”
* In other relationship news, Sarah returned from summer camp this week, but it wasn’t the happy homecoming Jordan was expecting. She didn’t love that he showed up at her house without texting first (awkward), and even though they shared a kiss at the site of their infamous arrest (aww!), it wasn’t exactly a passionate lip lock. Kyle later reminded his daughter that she’s the alpha in her relationship and that she needs to be honest with Jordan about… however she’s really feeling.
* Next week’s episode is directed by Arrowverse staple David Ramsey, but he won’t stay behind the camera for long. Helbing confirms that we “will see him again” as John Diggle in the near future.
Did Superman & Lois have a strong return? Grade the premiere below, then drop a comment with your thoughts — including your theories about WTF is in that mine.
He’s not a Lt., he’s a Lt. General. There are three stars on his uniform not a single bar.
Lt. General much bigger deal.
I noticed the same thing! I was like “why did a Leiutenant take over from General Lane”? And then saw the three stars…. Hope they fix that in future episodes!
Glad to see others caught this. I thought I completely missed something. Hope they get it right.
That also annoyed me. He was clearly a General, it would be very incorrect to call him Lieutenant.
Great premiere!! Looking forward to the rest of the season & beyond.
i like doomsday and all and i feel stupid for not remembering that reference to punching out, problem is this will make for the 4th adaptation, im waiting to see arrovwerse version of brainiac, imperiex, mongul, darkseid and his gang-kaliback, steppenwolf, desaad, granny goodness
Please no Darkseid or Apolkolips characters on this show..
why not?
Apokolips, Yes. Darkseid No
I think assorted acolytes like Desaad, Granny Kalibak or the Furies could be done…
but Darkseid would need to be nerfed
The Original Comics,
Doomsday debuted Punching out of a Coffin/Vault/Cell (Having been Wrapped/Chained/imprisoned and somehow buried in Ohio)…
Once Free he Killed his way east until finding Metropolis and Killing Superman
That said, I could have swore Supergirl at one point Referenced Clark as having Died once… so whether that event was undone by Crisis, or if Doomsday is coming back for a rematch remains to be seen
I would LOVE to see Granny Goodness. I forgot she existed. Thank you for that.
you’re welcome
Im surprised they’re going to do doomsday! I’m both afraid and eager to see how they’ll pull that storyline off.
ok, we got a possible doomsday showing up and Lois worrying about becoming like her mom. Where did Anderson get the 2 new superpower guys? Could we be seeing more of John and Natalie’s world in flashbacks in upcoming episodes and perhaps, what their world’s Clark Kent/Superman was like before he went evil and what if that Superman was married to a certain Dark Knight of that world as well?
There’s MetaHuman Academy for kids to learn how harrsen their powers
* 2 new Supers: the ‘school’ he mentions and we saw a few glimpses of in season one (it’s where they sent the kid who got powers after Jordan’s ‘episode’ at the party
* Irons’ World: Doubtful, unless they need context for something Natalie does…
– Being in Kansas how/why would Nat know/expect to know anyone she knew on her Earth seeing as John & Lois were based out of Metropolis
*AltClark… to what end?
– Season one established he’d Pretended to be Good (or was good before being corrupted by AltEdge) up until the Take over and that said takeover was a relatively short conflict before the Crisis; w/o Edge, or AltClark showing up what do they gain by taking us on that detour?
The episode was directed by Gregory Smith. David Ramsey directs episode 2.
I’m very curious to see the shows take on Doomsday.So far,every live action version of Doomsday(Smallville,Batman V Superman and Krypton) has done the character a little different while keeping core elements.
Great start to the season. Not sure it can handle the death of Superman though! Love this cast.
Cultural Appropriation of Kryptonians!! Anyways at first I thought it was Lex in another battlesuit.
The 2nd season is showing greater potential than the 1st. I hope that this show gets picked up for more than 2 seasons. The actors really are true to their characters. And Tyler Hoechlin (no disrespect to Henry Cavill and Brandon Routh) is the best Man of Steel since the late Christopher Reeve.
One of the things they do really well in this show is to make Superman/Clark multi dimensional and flesh out all aspects of him. Tyler works really well showing all aspects of Clark Kent and then seamlessly transitioning into Superman.
Great TV. Will be interesting to see the twists and turns this year takes and the superman villains it brings
Love how they had to keep reminding us that these kids are 15!!! They look nothing like 15 year olds. But suspend your disbelief I guess.
Otherwise the show was great.
But how did they create Super Recruits for the Army? Alarm bells going off.
Glad Lois is coming to terms with Natalie. I look forward to them getting a new reporter or a mini-Jimmy Olson for the paper.
with all the ‘Teens’ being 20+ it’s easy for ‘suspension of disbelief ‘ to take hold but repeatedly saying it just calls attention to it
– i guess they figured for the ‘sex talk’ episode they probably felt it was needed since the scenes were with Tyler and Elizabeth who while 35 and 40 respectively don’t look old enough to have kids too far above 15)
Truth, Justice, and the North Korean Way!
:
I thought it was a great start for The CW’s best show.
Nothing about how upset and hurt Natalie was feeling just all about Lois. Natalie and her Dad were great in this episode.
When I saw the punching was coming from deep in the earth, my mind immediately said “Doomsday”. I don’t mind them doing Doomsday, but I think that’s a season 3 or 4 story, its too early. I was hoping this season would be focused on Jordan and his adjusting to his powers as well a Jon coping with being the “normal” twin, but its not looking that way.
What happened to Kyle & Lana’s other daughter, Sophie? They did mostly ignore her last season but now it’s looking like she has gone the way of Chuck Cunningham. Bad enough the show has done this. But not even noted in an article about changes for this season? Wow. Cold.
She was mentioned.
Love this show so much! I actually got emotional watching Superman save the submarine crew — not caring that they were North Korean. This is EXACTLY who Superman is and reflects why this show is his best representation in…maybe ever.
The Natalie and Lois plot line was handled perfectly, too. I’m glad that there was no pretense that either one would handle meeting each other with some fairytale resolution. It was always going to be difficult, and both Bitsie and Tayler Buck brought emotional depth to that situation.
Plus the overall story for the season was introduced and I’m already invested. Great first episode!
Pretty ordinary mixing a general with a Lt
Can’t he rescue someone without having some sort of an episode headache etc
The biggest issue is the same issue that happens to many times — if Natalie was travelling through space and time to get there, how does she have a hairstyle that between dyes and shaping must take a couple of hours every day to keep up? I am willing to suspend disbelief but come on, guys give us a break.
1)Obviously, Sarah met another guy at Camp
2) as someone who hasn’t watched the entire arrow verse , why would the US army feel superman should look after one country more than the other??is the show trying to parallel the current political unrest in the US??